Home Office

Dorset Police

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police checks commissioned by the Disclosure and Barring Service from Dorset Police were completed within (a) 60, (b) 25, (c) 18 and (d) 14 days in the most recent six months for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: Holding answer received on 09 February 2015



The Department receives monthly updates on the performance of police forces, including Dorset police, in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) works closely with any forces which miss their SLA targets.The number and proportion of police disclosure checks completed by Dorset police against the 14, 18, 25 and 60 days SLA targets for the six months from June to November 2014 is provided in the table below. Dorset Police: number and proportion of disclosure checks completed in 14, 18, 25 and 60 days   Within 14 DaysWithin 18 DaysWithin 25 DaysWithin 60 DaysPeriodNo.%No.%No.%No.%June to November 20144604.0%1,87417.0%3,31731.0%9,01684.0%

Ministry of Justice

National Offender Management Service

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many calls were received by the NOMS 24-hour staff helpline in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous: NOMS has had a 24-hour staff helpline in place since 6th October 2014. Prior to that date, staff used the Ministry of Justice Shared Services’ contact centre helpline which operated on week days only during office hours. From 6 October 2014 up to 31 December 2014, the external provider of the new employee assistance services reports that there were 708 callers to the comprehensive external telephone helpline. This number includes all calls made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during this period.

Deputy Prime Minister

Roads: Kettering

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what role his Office is playing in considering funding options for the Weekley-Warkton bypass in Kettering under the Northamptonshire Local Enterprise Partnership growth deal.

Greg Clark: The Government is very supportive of the Weekley-Warkton bypass, which will support the delivery of 5,000 new homes in Kettering East. The Government will look at ways to provide support for this project to accelerate the development. Any financial support will be confirmed following on-going discussion of funding options with local partners.

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Mobile Phones

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to his Department's press release of 18 December 2014, entitled Government secures landmark deal for UK mobile phone users, if he will publish the text of the Government's agreement with the mobile network operators.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The press release outlined the deal; there is nothing further to publish.

Culture: Mental Health

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to tackle the problem of loneliness by encouraging people to participate in culture and sports.

Mr Edward Vaizey: DCMS recognises that participating in culture and sport can help to tackle the problem of loneliness. Arts Council England (ACE) aims to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience and be inspired by the arts by providing funding to organisations that promote cultural and social cohesion. DCMS has contributed £47.5 million to 50 projects that are part of Sport England’s Community Sport Activation Fund containing ‘reducing social isolation of the participants’ as one of the wider outcomes of the project, and has also invested over £730,000 in Age UK through Sport England’s Inclusive Sport fund, which is looking to overcome psychological barriers such as isolation faced by older people with disabilities.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Higher Education: Finance

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for (a) University Centre Shrewsbury and (b) other new universities.

Greg Clark: Ministershave discussed projects that Local Enterprise Partnerships have submitted for the £1 billion expansion of Growth Deals announced at Autumn Statement, including the proposal for the Marches LEP for the University Centre Shrewsbury.   I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with my hon. Friend and the Leader of Shropshire Council, when I visited Harper Adams University, Shropshire, earlier this month.

Higher Education

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the economic benefit of universities to the region in which they are located.

Greg Clark: The Higher Education Funding Council for England published data on their website in October last year which explores the link between economic growth and higher education provision. This includes information on employment levels, higher education qualifications and graduate mobility. Universities UK have also produced a series of reports which examine the higher education sector’s contribution to the UK economy (“The impact of universities on the UK economy), with the most recent publication in 2014.

Chief Scientific Advisers

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for how many months since 2010 the role of Chief Scientific Adviser for his Department has been vacant.

Greg Clark: During the 5 years from January 2010 to January 2015 the role of the Chief Scientific Adviser was vacant for a total of 7 months.

Trade Promotion: India

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) British-Indian and (b) British-Sikh people were members of the delegation which accompanied the Government trade mission to India in August 2014.

Matthew Hancock: UK Trade and Investment does not collect this sort of personal data about the participants of our trade missions.

New Businesses: Government Assistance

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2015 to Question 220513, what proportion of those start-up loans drawn down by Black and minority ethnic people were to individuals of (a) Pakistani, (b) Indian and (c) Bangladeshi ethnic origin.

Matthew Hancock: Start Up Loans records indicate that, as of the 31st December 2014, the proportion of loans facilitated by the Start Up Loans Company to people of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi ethnic origin, of the total drawn down by Black and minority ethnic people is as follows:   Pakistani – 4.8% Indian – 4.2% Bangladeshi – 2.2%   1,040 (out of the total loan book) did not wish to provide their ethnicity.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2015 to Question 221259, on how many occasions banks which have accessed funds on behalf of borrowers under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme have subsequently made a claim on the public purse following default.

Matthew Hancock: Lenders participating in the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme originate loans to eligible business entities using their own capital.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2015 to Question 221259, how many companies which accessed funds under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme subsequently received public funds following liquidation.

Matthew Hancock: The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is provided in favour of the Lender and consequently no companies in receipt of a loan facilitated by the scheme have received public funds through the EFG scheme following liquidation.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2015 to Question 221259, how many companies which accessed funds from each lender under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme have defaulted.

Matthew Hancock: Delivery of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is fully devolved to the participating lenders and loans can be made to several types of businesses, including limited companies. Up to the 31st December 2014, the number of businesses that have been recorded by all lenders as having defaulted on the terms of their loan, at some stage during the life of their loan, is 4,495. Not all defaults will necessarily lead to a claim being made against the guarantee.

Higher Education: Australia

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with his Australian counterpart on the Tuition Protection Scheme for international students in Australia.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received on the establishment of a national financial protection scheme for international students.

Greg Clark: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) received a letter from the National Union of Students dated 15 July 2014 which asked BIS to lead in ensuring the creation of a scheme to protect legitimate international students.   As part of his visit to Australia in February 2014, my predecessor the Rt. hon Friend the Member for Havant (David Willetts) was keen to learn more about their Tuition Protection Scheme and officials also liaised with Tuition Protection Scheme officials in Australia to understand the design and management of this scheme.

Textiles: Industry

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the number of textile manufacturers in (a) the UK, (b) Yorkshire, (c) Manchester, (d) Leeds, (e) Kirklees, and (f) Huddersfield.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of people employed in textile manufacturing in (a) the UK, (b) Yorkshire, (c) Leeds, (d) Huddersfield and (e) Manchester.

Matthew Hancock: In 2014 there were 3,840 textile manufacturing enterprises in the UK, 420 of these in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Data is not published on the number of textile manufacturing enterprises at the sub-regional level requested.   Data from the Business Registers Employment Survey shows that in 2013 the textile manufacturing industry supported the following numbers of jobs. Note that these are survey estimates and as such subject to survey error particularly at more detailed geographical areas.   UK56,000Yorkshire and Humber7,700Leeds800Huddersfield500Greater Manchester6,200